What has kept me busy!

I have a friend who is in the process of adopting a baby boy with special needs. She is raising money for this wonderful cause and I donated two items towards her auction. It won't raise enough on its own. Probably only enough to cover gas or paperwork but still it will get them just a little bit closer.

I started doing these prints for my nephews and nieces as well as my own kids. It is a fun project and I do enjoy coming up with different items for the letters. I use acrylic paint and add graphic markers for the accents. The middle is reserved for the recipients name.

Hope this post finds everyone crafting away!

Blessings!

Vickie

Sunday Thoughts

Part of moving to a new city brings also finding a new church. We were very lucky to find a great church in Richmond. It really did feel like a second home to our family, which made it very hard to leave.
We have however at the suggestion of a dear friend found another promising church here in Franklin TN. I don't want to mention the pastor or church. We are struggling a bit with it and are unsure if we should stick it out or try another. It is a church in transition, the pastor is retiring after 25 years. A hard thing for the church community that is for sure. Our children have enjoyed their time at Sunday School and we like the atmosphere and what the church is doing. It is a church in the same denomination as our last so we do understand the underlying theology. The pastor however is the utter definition of loquacious. That is why we are struggling. He seems to be taking his last few months to instruct the church on how they should proceed. I do get some things out of what he is saying but often times are very distracted as I have no recollection on how it was before.

I did despite the above have a profound (for me) thought. I constantly feel restless. Like I am not doing enough, being good enough, etc. Part of that is my personality. I like to please, always have and always will. I see that in my daughter too.
It came to me while sitting in church listening to Revelations 2:1-7 and the pastor preaching that it is okay to feel restless. Even better, I am supposed to feel this way. We live in a fallen world, a sinful world and I shouldn't feel totally settled. I should rejoice and look forward to the time I will be called into Heaven. I can use the restless feeling to HIS glory. I don't know if you ever feel that sense of not belonging, of not feeling settled. I believe this is the Holy Spirit calling us to come into a relationship with Him. He uses this restlessness as a call to come, listen, and understand why all hope is in HIM and Grace can be accepted fully and completely. There is a reason that when praying you feel peace and a sense of steadiness. There is a reason that living in a fallen unstable world the Bible has lasted and been stable for so long! He is calling to us, to hear his word and find peace during his presence.

Thank you for listening and I truly pray that it will bring some light into your life and draw you closer to Him.

Until next time.
Blessings to you!

New Years Resolutions

I always make resolutions each year. No I don't always fulfill them and I always mean to write them down but never do. Before our trip back "home" to Richmond VA I purchased a Scrapbook magazine to read while on the trip. I got inspired by the last photo in the magazine. Here is the project as pictured.

I am hoping that crafting my resolutions and publicly displaying them will hold me to them. So far so good!

My finished product consisted of the 7 Gypsies Receipt holder which I purchase from Three Peas in a bucket as well as some paper and findings. Below is my finished product. I really like it and it sits proudly on my bare mantle right now.

Here is the list of my resolutions, now they are out there in "blog land" so I have to hold true to them! :-)

Family: Family Game night weekly.
Physical: Yoga Three times a week.
Home: Finish Katherine's Room, Paint Emmett's room, Install Gallery Wall.
Spiritual: Prayer journal weekly, start a group bible study or one on my own.
Work: Weekly blog entries, formalize ideas for a business I have been thinking of for 5+ years.

Hope this post finds everyone fulfilling your resolutions! Remember we have a fresh start every day!

Until next time!

Folding card fanatic!

I post recently that I have discovered folded cards. There are a vast amount of tutorials as well as videos out there. Also I realize that folded cards have been done before but I just recently found the confidence to try them. They are addicting.

I discovered two that I really am in love with. The examples are below. As I perfect my techniques I am hoping to make some videos and post them. I find videos more helpful to me especially when trying to execute the folded cards. For these two cards I used my Cricut (Nate's ABCs, Walk in My Garden and From my Kitchen). On the card with the car I added some of my stampin up stamps. I love the mix of the Cricut bits with the stamp bits and plan on doing more of this.

Hope this post finds everyone snug and cozy and crafting at home! We finally had a burst of cold weather here in Nashville and it even snowed!! Okay only about 2", and maybe not even that but it finally feels like winter here. We had a near 60 day followed by a 26 degree day! For those with bodies that respond negatively to temperature changes I know you feel my pain!! :-)

Until the next post! Cheers!! :-) hehe

Belated but still Merry!

I discovered a folded card when I was working on my Christmas Cards. I am currently on a folded card craze! More about that in a future post.
Here are my Christmas cards from 2011! It feels very strange to say 2012.

I had a lot of fun using my Cricut this year. Especially using the Winter Woodland cartridge. I did manage to find a cute vintage postcard on Ebay which I used in the blue card. Traditionally I don't like to use "Xmas" however the style won me over. Hope this helps inspire some card making in you! :-)

Since you are more likely to act on something that you have written down I am hoping to post the project that will hold and display my new year's resolution in the next couple of weeks. Additionally my hubby found a very nice web cam in his vast collection so I am hoping to maybe post some video tutorials of the folded cards I have discovered.

Happy crafting everyone!!

Proof I have been up to crafty adventures!

Although I have been silent on my blog I have in fact been up to quite a few crafty adventures!

Proof can be found here at my sister's blog. I made a "Matilda Jane" inspired set of outfits for my two nieces Audrey (one year old) and Celia (Age 4). This was a project that pushed my envelope a little bit. I typically shy away from projects that I have to mix patterns on. Mixing patterns usually over whelms me but knowing the recipients wouldn't be judgemental helped tremendously!

I don't have any better pictures as our good camera was off with my husband. The first outfit is similar to the knot dress with the "bloomer" like pants that seem to be all the rage. The second coordinating outfit is a modified a-line jumper with matching "bloomers". I like the fact they aren't identical just share the same fabrics. I love the a-line jumper because as Audrey grows she can where it as a top. When I had my own business this was a customer favorite for that reason.

Hope this finds everyone sticking to their resolutions! I found and awesome project to show case mine and hope to share this in the future.

Cheers!

Never too late?

I am embarrassed at how long it has been since my last post. This is one of my new year’s resolutions. The local news around us has been abuzz with resolutions do and don'ts. One of the recommendations that seem to be repeated is to make your resolutions specific. So I am making resolutions that fall into 7 categories: Spiritual, Work, Home, Family, Physical, Mental, and Yard.
Since my work is mainly taking care of the kids I think this will grow to encompass my blog and other crafty ventures. One of my "work" goals is to post weekly on my blog. It may be just a few words or thoughts or a long post about what creative project I have launched into but it will be made weekly.

I had all intentions of posting the below thoughts before Christmas but well bronchitis got in the way! It hit me hard and landed me in bed for 3+ days.

While sitting in my Christmas Eve service at church I had a "light bulb" moment (sorry for the over used cliché).

It occurred to me that the birth of Jesus allowed some words to enter into our vocabulary that would not have the great meaning they have without this gift.

Given Jesus’s birth;
Sanctification, redemption, and sacrifice would not have the earth shattering meaning
We have a clear picture of what love, promises and forgiveness look like.
Joy has a separate and eternal meaning from happiness.

I plan on printing these truths and keeping them as a daily reminder. He truly is in the details as small as a word’s definition!

Happy New Year!